


strips you bare and leaves you breathless

by misura



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Project Runway Fusion, M/M, Unresolved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-27 14:39:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17768684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "I confess, I'm surprised," Laurent said, his face expressionless as he perused Damen's drawings. "I half-expected you to show up in a loincloth." (Project Runway-ish!AU)





	strips you bare and leaves you breathless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beltenebra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beltenebra/gifts).



Lingerie week was when Damen really got in trouble. He'd told himself that while the sight of Laurent in a chiton during Traditional Costumes (with a Twist) week had been ... _unsettling_ (or, fine, a confirmation of everything he already knew about Laurent, and then some), this nevertheless was still a competition, and one he intended to win.

If beating Laurent was what it took, then beating Laurent was what Damen would do, without any regrets or second thoughts or, for that matter, mercy, and if Laurent were to prove a sore loser and wanted nothing more to do with Damen, after, then that was Laurent's problem, not Damen's.

 _Idiot._ In Akielos, men were not ashamed of their bodies. In Vere, men wore clothing meant to conceal, elaborate shirts and trousers that took forever to get out of or put on properly.

True, lingerie was at least in part about hinting at things not on display. Nevertheless, Damen had been confident about making a good showing - better than Laurent, certainly, whose idea of a daring outfit thus far had seemed to consist of leaving the top button of his shirt undone.

(Laurent had only done so once, and Damen had looked at the skin thus revealed and wanted to put his mouth there, to mark Laurent as his, to have Laurent smile at him from across the room and have it mean they shared a secret, rather than have it mean that Laurent knew what Damen was thinking.)

And now, with two days to go, _this_.

"Interesting choice of color," said Laurent, his shirt almost the exact same shade of blue as the fabric Damen had chosen for his final design. On Laurent, it looked stunning.

Damen felt himself flush. He had, he realized, made his sketches thinking of Laurent, of a design he would want Laurent to wear. He'd been day-dreaming of a Laurent who was warm, and loving, and his.

The real Laurent was none of those three things. _Yet,_ Damen thought, before scolding himself for an idiot, to get distracted by a pretty face.

Though, of course, Laurent also possessed a gorgeous body, a wicked sense of humor, a sharp mind, and an exquisite taste in fabrics. If Damen, for whatever reason, were to be unable to win himself, he felt very strongly that Laurent deserved the victory.

"May I?" Laurent asked, reaching for Damen's designs.

Damen nodded. They were competitors, rivals, and knowledge was power, but really, what was the point? Laurent had already seen plenty. Damen could only imagine what Laurent was thinking.

"I confess, I'm surprised," Laurent said, his face expressionless as he perused Damen's drawings. "I half-expected you to show up in a loincloth."

"Disappointed?" Damen tried to keep his voice even. Time and time again, he had run into this absurd prejudice on Laurent's part, that Akielons were all barbarians, who knew nothing about fashion.

True, Akielos had rarely produced any great designers, and of course Auguste was Veretian, but even so. Damen knew he was talented. After seeing this season's line-up, he had gone to his father, the king, and said, _father, I can beat them_ , and so he had been allowed to come here.

He had not expected to meet someone like Laurent, or to fall in love with someone he knew almost nothing about, other than his name and his country of origin.

"Disappointed?" Laurent repeated. "Relieved, rather. I don't want to win too easily. Where's the fun in that?"

Damen considered pointing out that wasn't what he had meant, then decided not to. "You sound very confident." Arrogant, almost, though Damen had been accused of the same thing a great many times - unjustly, he rather felt. Arrogance and confidence were not at all the same thing.

"Yes," Laurent said, tossing Damen's designs on the table as if he no longer wanted to soil his hands with them.

"I look forwards to seeing what you've come up with for this one," Damen tried. He wanted to keep Laurent talking, to form some sort of connection. To make a joke and get Laurent to laugh, or at least smile.

 _You sound like a love-struck puppy._ That was what Nikandros would have told him, had he been here. Kastor as well, possibly, though he might have sounded less kind about it.

"You might want to try not to drool this time," Laurent said. "Or drop anything."

Damen felt himself flush, then decided that he also felt a bit annoyed. With himself, mostly, for making it so easy for Laurent to get to him.

"You were the one who chose to wear a chiton," he said. Laurent might have chosen anything, from any country, but he had chosen something from Akielos.

"I didn't do it for you."

Too quick, Damen thought: Laurent _had_ done it for Damen, then, or at least with Damen in mind. The idea was absurdly cheering. Damen nearly smiled. This was the sort of competition he'd been wanting: something mutual, with both of them striving to do their best, driving one another to be better, work harder, rise higher.

Laurent frowned at him. Damen grinned, enjoying the idea that he was having some sort of impact on Laurent at last, that there was hope.

"Of course not." Damen made his tone warm, amused. "I would never think anything like that."

Laurent's expression called him a liar.

Damen's grin broadened. "It looked very good on you, so clearly, you made the right choice."

Laurent huffed, before he turned and walked away, head held high.

Damen allowed himself to picture Laurent wearing his designs, to show to all the world how Damen might dress him, given the chance. Then, feeling almost dizzy with anticipation, he sat down and started from scratch.

Two days left, to come up with a design that would make _Laurent_ be the one to drool and drop things - or at least get him to look a little less smug and confident of being the one holding all the cards.

 _I half-expected you to show up in a loincloth,_ Laurent had said.

An actual loincloth would be going a bit far, Damen decided, but still, as a starting point, it was something he could definitely work with.


End file.
